Jerusalem , Israel -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A top Israeli official on Sunday criticized a new statement from Catholic bishops on the Middle East and blasted the remarks of a Catholic archbishop who spearheaded the statement as `` libel . ''

On Saturday , Catholic bishops from the Middle East concluded a two-week conference in Rome , Italy , with a call for the international community , especially the United Nations , to work `` to put an end to the occupation '' of Palestinian territories .

On Sunday , Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon criticized that concluding statement of the conference , called a synod .

`` We express our disappointment that this important synod has become a forum for political attacks on Israel in the best history of Arab propaganda , '' Ayalon said in a statement . `` The synod was hijacked by an anti-Israel majority . ''

Ayalon singled out the remarks of a Catholic archbishop who said at the conference that Israel is not the Jews ' promised land .

`` We Christians can not speak of the ` promised land ' as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people , '' Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros , who leads the Greek Melkite Church in the U.S. , said at the conference 's final press conference on Saturday . `` This promise was nullified by Christ . ''

`` There is no longer a chosen people -- all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people , '' Bustros said .

On Sunday , Israel 's Ayalon said that `` We are especially appalled at the language used by Archbishop Bustros during his press conference . ''

Bustros led the committee that drafted the synod 's concluding statement on Israel and the Palestinians .

`` We call on the Vatican to distant themselves from Archbishop Boutros ' comments which are a libel against the Jewish People and the State of Israel and should not be construed as the Vatican 's official position , '' Ayalon said in his statement . `` These outrageous comments should not cast a shadow over the important relationship between the Vatican , the state of Israel and the Jewish people . ''

The Palestinian Authority , meanwhile , praised the synod and echoed Bustros ' remarks .

`` Israel can not use the biblical concept of a promised land or chosen people to justify new settlements in Jerusalem or Israeli territorial claims , '' Saeb Erakat , a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and a chief palestinian negotiator , said in a statement Sunday .

Erakat said the synod sent `` a clear a message to the government of Israel that it may not claim that Jerusalem is an exclusively Israeli city . ''

'' -LRB- In -RRB- coming weeks we will engage in discussions with the Vatican on ways to further consolidate our fantastic relations , '' Erakat said . ''

The Catholic synod 's Saturday statement came at the end of a meeting headed by Pope Benedict XVI .

`` The Palestinian people will thus have an independent and sovereign homeland where they can live with dignity and security , '' the statement said . `` The State of Israel will be able to enjoy peace and security within their internationally recognized borders . ''

`` The Holy City of Jerusalem will be able to acquire its proper status , which respects its particular character , its holiness and the religious patrimony of the three religions : Jewish , Christian and Muslim , '' it said . `` We hope that the two-state-solution might become a reality and not a dream only . ''

The pope first publicly endorsed a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis during a visit to the region in May 2009 . At the time , he assured Palestinians of the Vatican 's support of a sovereign Palestinian homeland . It was a concept that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resisted .

More recently , the issue of settlement construction has threatened to scuttle the reactivated and now stalled peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians .

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Israeli official : Catholic bishops ' conference was `` hijacked by an anti-Israel majority ''

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An archbishop said Saturday that Israel is not the Jews ' promised land

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Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon calls the archbishop 's remark `` libel ''

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Bishops are pushing the U.N. to work for a two-state solution